Closing summary
We’re closing this blog now, here’s a summary of the day’s main developments:
A Russian general in charge of radiation, chemical and biological protection forces has been killed in an explosion in Moscow, the country’s investigative committee has said. Lt Gen Igor Kirillov was killed outside an apartment building on Ryazansky Prospekt, which starts 7 km (4.35 miles) south-east of the Kremlin. The explosion was caused by a device hidden inside an electric scooter, according to the committee.
Kirillov’s assistant also died in the blast, which was triggered by an explosive device placed in a scooter, officials said. Russian investigators have opened a case into the two deaths, the committee’s spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said.
Sources in Kyiv have confirmed that Ukraine’s SBU carried out the killings in Moscow.“We were involved in the operation,” the source told the Guardian.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, said on Tuesday that the Ukrainian leadership would face imminent revenge for the killing of a top Russian general, RIA news agency reported. “Realising the inevitability of its military defeat, it launches cowardly and despicable strikes in peaceful cities,” he said.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday appealed to allies to sanction Russia’s so-called shadow fleet carrying illicit oil. Zelenskyy commented on an oil spillage caused by Russian tanker in the Black Sea on Sunday, calling it an “environmental disaster”.
Britain on Tuesday sanctioned 20 ships it said had been carrying illicit Russian oil. “As [Russian president Vladimir] Putin’s oil revenues continue to fuel the fires of his illegal war, Ukrainian families are enduring cold, dark nights, often without heating, light or electricity, targeted by Russia’s relentless missile attacks,” British prime minister Keir Starmer said.
The Ukrainian air force said on Tuesday it had downed 20 Russia-launched drones. It said on the Telegram messenger that Russia launched a total of 31 drones and an additional 10 did not reach their targets. One was still in the air.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Vershinin held talks with Rebeca Grynspan, the head of the UN Trade and Development agency, his ministry said on Tuesday, saying he raised the issue of western barriers to Russian food exports. The “organisation of donations of Russian grain and fertilisers with the assistance of the UN,” was also discussed, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Hannivka in eastern Ukraine, Russia’s state RIA news agency reported on Tuesday, citing the defence ministry. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield report.
Russia is boosting its ballistic arsenal with new strategic missile systems, plans maximum-range launches and may increase testing in response to growing external threats, a senior Russian military commander said on Monday. In a clear warning that Russia will respond if it deems its security is threatened, Sergei Karakayev, the commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, said the country plans maximum-range test launches as part of testing new systems, Reuters reported.
The United States hit North Korea and Russia on Monday with new sanctions targeting Pyongyang’s financial and military support to Moscow as well as its ballistic missile program. The sanctions, which list North Korean banks, generals and other officials, as well as Russian oil shipping companies, are the latest US measure aimed at disrupting North Korea’s support to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Thanks for reading.
